Sunday 18 May 2014

Lyon, France

We had a wonderful time in Lyon. I think the city is incredible and well worth a visit, historical and beautiful, for me it has it all.

We stayed for a week in an apart-hotel very close to the Gare de Vaise railway station & Metro in the 9th arrondissement. The room was great, just perfect for us. It had the living/kitchen area, bathroom with bath & shower, good sized bedroom and a full length balcony (which faced the evening sun).

We've been to Lyon many times and wandered around all our usual haunts. We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon, so we looked for food and went to the Phenix bar which is a local bar to watch football and drink Ricard. In the evening, the temperature was about 14 degrees C.

Thursday was rue de la Republic. We got off the metro at Bellecour and stopped for a meal deal from Brioche Doree (love the raspberry tart). Mojo (my other half) bought cigars to bring home for us to smoke in the Cigar Bothy at Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh. For dinner, we went back to the apartment with some Toulouse sausage and a baguette (yum). Later on, we wandered into the Vieux Lyon (old town) for a stroll and some lovely Cote du Rhone and a cigar outside a bar looking over the river Soane. In the evening, the temperature was about 15 degrees C.

On Friday morning, Mojo went out to have a look at some guitar shops and I stayed in and rested. in the afternoon we went to Foch and visited Bernachon for a coffee (the president cake was rather disappointing, shocked). After that we walked along to Brotteaux for evening drinks and had a lovely time.

Saturday found us back to Vieux Lyon and found some of my favourite shops and places to sit and watch the world go by. In the evening, we had a Groupon deal, so a walk in the rain took us to  l'Address, a very modern bistro/bar for an amazing 3 course meal. Well worth getting a soaking for.

We stayed in and chilled out for most of Sunday. In the evening, stayed locally for a few drinks.

On Monday, we went to Bellecour and took a bus to the new Confluence shopping centre. It is really lovely and absolutely full of great shops. Not all of them were to my taste of course, but I did find a few. After that we went to Part-Dieu shopping centre to get some thing to take home with us.

Tuesday - we went up to Croix Rousse on the hill to have a wander about and have a picnic lunch. It's a lovely part of town (more like a village), stayed for ages. Then got back on the metro line and got off at Hotel de Ville and had a wander around the Opera. We had another Groupon deal for an intimate little bistro in one of the back streets called Comptoir Lyonnais. The food here was amazing and we had a brilliant time here. We are definitely going back to this bistro next time we are here.

Wednesday, we were very sad to be going home, could easily have stayed another week or two. Can't wait to come back again.

Talk soon
Love & hugs
Ange xxx